Short hops and hard knocks with Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne.

Wake to the rescue?

While Brad Penny was getting shelled by the Yankees — to the tune of 10 hits and eight runs over four-plus innings — Tim Wakefield was making perhaps his final step toward re-claiming his spot in the Boston Red Sox’s pitching rotation.

The veteran knuckleballer, pitching at Triple-A Pawtucket, allowed two hits and one run in a start against Rochester.

Wakefield walked one and struck out four and could slide back into the Boston rotation as early as Wednesday — Penny’s next scheduled start. Wakefield could also pitch Thursday in place of Junichi Tazawa.

At any rate, the Red Sox have badly missed Wakefield during his time on the disabled list. The 43-year-old right-hander went 11-3 with a 4.31 ERA in 17 starts before the All-Star break.

While Josh Beckett and Jon Lester have been tremendous at the top of the rotation, the Red Sox have struggled to get quality starts in the 3-5 spots, though Clay Buchholz has emerged with three strong performances in a row.

Wakefield was first placed on the disabled list with a lower back strain, but it then became a nerve issue which caused weakness in his left calf. The concern with Wakefield the last couple of weeks is whether he could field his position effectively, and without risking further injury.

The Red Sox could reveal as early as Saturday when the veteran will return to the rotation.

Shut down Penny for the rest of the season. Now we know why Bowden was not brought up earlier.
Brian: If Lester pitches tonight, the score would be more respectable. Who knows 3, 4 runs may be enough for Lester to win. Maybe not.
Shut down Penny! I said it 2 days ago. Lester should pitch the NY series opener. Argh……………………………………

It’s really too bad that Penny is so horrible. I’ve heard so much about Michael Bowden but I’ve not seen him pitch before. He throws like my sister. The should have given him away instead of Masterson who has much better stuff.

Hey goofball. Just having some fun. We sure need it tonight! Most Yanks get on Canucks for the use of “eh” when making a comment. I never use it myself because it usually identifies me! LOL. Are you having fun tonight?

I am not exactly surprised that Brad Sixpence got shelled. I haven’t been watching, thankfully, as Sixpence has been living up to my nickname for him. Bowden apparently hasn’t done well, either. Garry, I wish we’d given Bowden to the Indians instead of Masterson, also, but Cleveland did not seem interested. I am not surprised that it took trading Masterson to get the V-Mart deal done. Cleveland’s FO may be stupid, but not THAT stupid! (And Bowden’s name rarely came up in trade talk about the Indians, from what I could tell–it was either going to be Masterson or Buch). And Buch has come in handy right now, also!
It is a very good thing Wake is about ready to re-enter the rotation. We NEED him. Let’s hope he has no further setbacks, and CAN come back up, healthy and ready! I am not happy that Tazawa is pitching the next game, though. I still don’t believe he is right for prime time at all this year. GO SOX!

Not this bunch, Paul, as we aren’t Yanks–we’re Red Sox! ;)
That does sound like fun, Wendy! Watching our cats chase moths and other critters usually qualifies as fun! ;)
Take care, all! I’m out! GO SOX!

I have been saying this for years now. Terry Francona may be good at managing the egos of the players but he couldn’t manage a game if his life depended on it. He leaves the first clown in until he has given up 8 runs. Then he leaves the second clown in to give up 7 more. Why?
Because he doesn’t want to use up his bull pen? Then he must have given up on the game tonight. In that case why doesn’t he forfeit the game early and let his players get rest? If they want to catch the Yankees that have to attempt to win every game including the current one. They can’t afford to keep giving up games. If he has already given up on the eastern title and thinking only about the wild card, well with that attitude the red sox won’t win that either. He needs to leave town and perhaps find a little league team to manage.

OK, I just helped my daughter move into new apt. in Portland. I’m about 90 mins. north of there. I was driving home this evening, listening to the game, and I found myself screaming at the radio! Road rage, RADIO RAGE!!! Go Sox?!!! Just wait till tomorrow. Right?!
Portland is awesome, I went to college there.

I don’t fault Francona for tonight’s fiasco, a revist of Smoltz series opener against the Yankees. But why couldn’t Lester be moved back one day? \Same f%^^& thing with Buckie in 08. Had to pitch him every 5th game regardless who the opponent was.
Now Bay , Youk, Drew were out of the game just at the time the Sox is mounting a mini comeback. What a brain cramp!

well he has a history of doing just that…… If wakefield was having a bad day he shows it in the first few innings but what does Tito do? He leaves him in for 7 runs because he wants to see if he gets better in the later innings. Well he doesn’t but Tito does this over and over again.

And what was the logic of having Buchholz as a pinch runner the other night? The only recent experience Buchholz has had running the bases was the runners he let run the bases when he pitches. What happened with Buchholz being called out at home and his hesitation on the bases is exactly what should have been expected.

Hey.. Let me quote a great ex-Sox..
yeah tcd/tdc whatever..
“I guess the Yankee are my Daddy…” FOR NOW………….
But always remember… things can change in a heartbeat!!!
or as you have probably heard, a New York Minute…

also haveto give the Sox credit,, they didnt fold the tents and leave, they are still giving it a shot, albeit a little too late…but gotta give em credit… ILOVE THESE SOX AND I LOVE THIS GAME!! STILL.,… IDOBELIEVEIDOBELIEVEIDOIDOIDOIDOBELIEVE!!!

this goes back to what I said earlier. If Francona would replace the clowns who gave up 8 and 7 runs before they did just that…..with eleven runs scored by the Bosox, they may have had a chance to win. But NOOOOOOOOOOOO…
Francona mismanages yet again…..
He sucks……..

and Hey Apronboy,,, what is it that you do for a living,,, manager of a major league team?? I dont think so… When you have your name on the letterhead at RedSox F.o. then start second guessing… have a good night all!! see y’all tomorrow.\

Julia — on the previous thread, did you say there was wedding at Fenway tonight (during the game)?

I sure hope they were Yankee fans, or don’t believe in bad omens :) ouch! Getting married at Fenway Park is a little over the top, get married during a game — is way over the top, a great way to ruin your wedding (isn’t it suppose to be the bride’s day?) — marketing is getting a little carried a way with this idea. I guess if you are both rabid SOX fans — but hey come on — if you can’t have balance on your wedding day…. hmmmm…. of course most of us on this blog (including yours truely) probably don’t have the right to comment on balance when it comes to the SOX :)

I’m with you, DGN, on a wedding at Fenway during the game–so much for the game! :/ Aren’t we supposed to concentrate on the GAME during the GAME?! Oh, well…
I do hope Tazawa is not going to be the pitcher tomorrow! Talk about needing your BP at the ready! :/ Not quite ready for prime time! GO SOX!

Hello all, 1st time on. Tough way to start the series. Yanks are hot and healthy, the Sox are not. Dice-K and Wake will be back soon and will contribute. This will add more stability to the bullpen. Still alot of games left. Keep the faith! Been a Sox fan since I’ve been 8 and I’m a life long New Jersey resident. RED SOX NATION is my only escape from those fans of that team from the Bronx! Go Sox! Hope to get a response. CUR 66

Aprion,, sorry, that particular choice of words was written out of frustration. I will tell you that I do believe in Francona. The Yankees had our number last night. I don’t notice you here when the Sox are winning or giving him any credit for any of those wins.

Welcome Aboard CUR66.
Now that was a humbling experience. You have to let Penny roll away. Quality starts? Taxing a bullpen all season. Too many bad things to say.
Tazawa today, talking about sending a kid into the fire. You never know on situations like this. 23 hits by the Yanks maybe their arms are tired.
Go Sox!!

Hey CUR66, Welcome to our blog!!! Sorry about your location!! lol.. I work for a family of New Jersey-ites!!! Cherry Hill to be exact..(transplanted to Fort Lauderdale) But they are rabid about their Phils and their Eagles…. and they do “acknowledge” the Sox and hate the Yankees, so they’re ok to work for. Look forward to seeing you around during the games!!! Go Sox!

Didn’t Tazawa made his “debut” in relief against the yankees in Yankee Stadium on a Saturday when we were there the last time?.. Hopefully he’s gotten over that one!! lol.
I wonder when Paul Byrd is scheduled to come up, I really think that we could use his help. He had some really good spots with the Sox last year.

dg – YES there was a wedding last night that took place during the game!!! It took place in the stands – it looks like the bride & groom brought everyone (JP) with them! It was not on the field or anything. The happy couple was shown on the screen after the event took place. And yes, I believe they were Red Sox fans! Jerry’s comment was – we’ll see how this works out. I honestly don’t think the Red Sox had anything to do with the wedding. Hey, at least they will never forget what happened during their wedding….lucky them…..

Welcome CUR66 – we hope you will join our merry little band.

Aprio – Tito is being saddled with bad pitchers and when he manages he can not just look at the game at hand; he needs to look at a whole series or at least the next couple of games. We have Tazawa going today. The probability of him getting into trouble early is high. We are going to have to use our pen to cover that. Penny had a bad 1st & 2nd innings – but his 3rd & 4th were stellar. (Like Smoltz, he has moments of brilliance) and then things went south very quickly in the 5th. So we went to the pen – and what we got was NOT ANY BETTER!!! Good thing we didn’t bring Bowden in in the 3rd, the Yankees might have scored 25 runs. Tito had NOTHING to bring in – and this is what we have too look forward to today if Tazawa fails? Doesn’t leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling. Every single time a pitcher gets into trouble he can not be immediately pulled – he is getting PAID to get out of the mess with minimal damage. The problem with last night’s game? Penny and Bowden should not have been the options that Tito had. And that he did is NOT his fault. Look to the front office – they get this blame.

We can’t blame Francona for last night’s fiasco. What could he do with Penny? Penny should be nowhere near the mound unless the Sox are mathematically eliminated. What could he do with Bowden who came in and surrendred a 3 run bomb to Matsui. Matsui is a great hitter and probably won’t be a Yankee in 2010. 1 year deal as a DH?
However, I do fault Francona for not starting Lester for a variety of obvious reasons to be omiited here. De javu Smoltz’s series opener against the Yankees. It is hard to swallow that the team scored 11 runs and yet lost the game. On top of that the Yankees pitching weren’t sharp at all.
TB is creeping in and the Sox are yet to play 6 games ? with the Rays.
Another thing, Francona waved the white flag too soon.

Here’s a controversial statement. I think the only thing Francona did wrong was take Penny OUT! By the 5th inning, he should have realized the game was lost. Rather than burning the bullpen and throwing good after bad, he just should have left Penny in for 6 or 7 innings…or maybe even the rest of the game.

If you’re (hopefully) not going to ever drive the car again, you might as well drive it into the ground.

Hi all. Spent all day flying yesterday and now we’re tucked away at the in-laws place here in Canterbury, NH. Beautiful as always! Last night’s game was far from it — I just watched much of the replay on mlb.tv and and it was UGLY. Personally, I’ve never cared for those Dodger rejects, Penny and Saito, but that’s just me. Three words, “designated for assignment” bounce around in my head when I watch Penny walk to the mound. Saito is just an afterthought. Kind of like Tavares was (at least to me). I can live with, or without either of them. It’s not much fun to watch the player carousel (I’m repeating myself, I know!) but this team is an enigma. I believe Tito has done a good job with the shuffling, but I wonder if it’s driving him as nuts as the rest of us. I agree that Ortiz needs to stay in the 7 slot — he’s doing well. And it was nice to see Veritek hit that “who-gives-a-sheet” homer in the 9th last night off of the Yankee version of Saito. But unless they can string together some good hits early on and our pitching can hold the empire down, we’re in for a long weekend. By the way, who the heck is Tazawa? Another high-dollar nobody from Japan? I say Penny sits and Wake takes his spot in the top 5. Well, it’s off to Portsmouth! Have a great weekend, Nation!

If Francona knew that the Sox would score 11 runs, he would have done something differently. Francona threw in the towel after Matsui’s bomb.
Brian: You were willing to accept Smoltz to the bulllpen. Why not add a southpaw Billy Wagner to the pen to complement Oki? We will know by Tuesday.

Sox have to be careful about the Wagner move. He is going to classified as a Class A Free Agent, so even if Sox dont pick up his option they will be awarded 2 first rounders. Mets know this. They will want more than you think. Probably one of the better prospects, cash and PTBNL.
If Theo could pull something out without giving up too much, this only benefits the Sox, even for the furure.

Let’s see…….boy genious supplied the sox with Schmoltz, Penny, and now is considering a similar situation with Wagner. Counted on Wakefield this year when we can’t remember when he played a whole season. We don’t have a catcher that can catch him now. Brought in a chronically ill extra outfielder to replace a chronically hurt right fielder when necessary. I wonder if the salaries of all of these players would be less than was necessary to get Cliff Lee. Hopefully Boy Wonder will eventually figure out: 1. You get what you pay for (Exception:Drew,Lugo) 2. If you want to win really, you have to get the cream. We don’t have the cream right now.

As much as I hate saying it- and albeit we are hurting,the Yanks have the better team today. They invested their $$$ and picked up Burnett, Sabbathia and Texierra.

Our hope is that we can make the WC and, if neither teams are knocked off in the playoffs, beat them in a short series which we can do if our pitching is managed differently than has been done during the season. We have a reasonably good BP and two good starting pitchers– Lester and Beckett. Whoever is selected in between these starters- Tito has to pull the plug early and get the BP in there. Don’t wait until the hole is too deep to do anything about it. In a short series I don’t care if a relief pitcher, long or short, pitches every day. If we lose they can rest until next spring. Tito’s problem during the season is that he leaves his starters in too long hoping that make a turnaround- which they sometimes indeed do. But in a short series pull your starter as soon as he starts to falter. If he is yanked early, set him up for another quick start.

In any case, let’s hope the Sox turn things around and take the next two.

I believe the Sox will either win or lose today’s game in the first inning. If the Yankees score in the first inning, we lose. If Tito insists on letting Tazawa “work it out” for a couple more innings (a la Schmoltz and Pennies) then we lose big time. And if we score 20 runs, they’ll score 21.

Thanks for the welcome ellenc, glad to be here. Well today was much more enjoyable than last night. Got a call before the game from my a friend who is a fan of that “team from the bronx” , I called him after the game. Totally different conversation. Great to see the offense come through so many times with 2 down. Youk and Pappi had big days. Bay seems to be on track as well. I hope he gets re-signed. Martinez was a great pick-up, but my fav, V-Tek has to start hitting. No one calls a better game, and he is a great captain, just need more stick from him. Tazawa hung in tough. All in all a great win! I wish we didn’t have to listen to John Miller and the biggest anti-Red Sox commentator Joe Morgon tomorrow night. Thank god I get NSEN down here. Welcome back Jerry Remy! Would love to hear him and Don Orsillo instead. Go Sox!

Thanks for the welcome ellenc. Great game today. Tazawa pitched well and the offense came through with 2 down 13 times. Tomorrow night on ESPN at 8:00. Great time slot, great match-up but Joe Morgen? He is so anti Red Sox. To bad Orsillo and the “Rem Dawg” aren’t calling the game. Go Sox!

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